Forbidden Power Part 1: Hidden Secrets
by King Jean-Luc
Summary: He never asked for this power, this curse. He could deal with the Kyuubi, but this went beyond even him. The stakes are higher and more dangerous than ever before. Will Naruto be able to conquer this gift, or will he destroy the very dimension he lives in?
1. Prologue

Well, would you look at that? I did it: I got off my lazy ass and got to writing. Not sure how well it's going to end up but any constructive criticism is welcomed and nice. Flames aren't really welcomed… But I need warmth for the winter so if you try, give it your best shot. This is my first FanFic and the first anything I'm making public that has any significance.

Warning: The story starts on the first episode of Shipuuden, but I'm going to have things from later episodes already put in. Also, the story might (most likely will) seem completely unrealistic and/or horrible, but **please**, atleast finish the first chapter. It will be a lot more realistic towards the end, trust me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, or any other Naruto character, building or anything of the works. But if someone would be kind enough to buy Naruto, his friends, and whatnots, for me I'd owe you big time. That'd be awesome. Anyway, enough of my blabber, time for the story! Hope you enjoy it.

"_Italics" _inner conversation

**Prologue **

Naruto ran from his two travel partners to the middle of the village. It had been two and a half years since he was last inside Konoha, and he wanted a good view of everything.

On her way to the main gates of the village to drop off some papers to the guards, Sakura somehow got three genin following her. It's not like she minded, because really, she didn't, she just wished they'd be a little less noisy.

"_We could make them a lot _less_ noisy if we wanted to!" Her inner self offered immediately._

"_Why would we do that? They're nice enough. Aside from Konohamaru turning into a little _pervert_! OK, so maybe we _do_ want to make them shut up, but I'd rather not get questioned about why there is a dead genin when he wasn't on a mission or we were attacked later." _Sakura responded. She heard her inner mumbling something but no coherent words, so she decided to just ignore it.

"Good morning, Sakura!" Greeted Genma, one of the guards on post. "Have you seen Naruto yet?"

As she finally reached the shack she asked, "What do you mean? He isn't supposed to be back until next week."

"That's what we thought, too. But he and two others walked through _that_ gate and he took off running down the road." Genma offered after shifting positions in his chair and nodding at the gate. "I'd say about twenty minutes ago."

Sakura almost fell over. He was **finally** back! She couldn't believe it! After putting the papers down on the table and saying her "goodbyes" Sakura took off down the street after the most surprising ninja in Konoha. Or who used to be anyway, she didn't know if the trip changed his personality at all. She really hoped that it didn't because she had something important to tell him.

"You know," Genma added looking to his almost asleep partner, "she might have been interested in the third person of the group. I wonder what could make her lose focus like that."

"I don't really care, I'm tired. If it's that important, then ask her yourself." His partner said, dozing off.

"GET UP! You know you shouldn't sleep on the job," Genma warned his partner, "What would the Hokage think if she found you sleeping?"

In the blink of an eye, his partner was up straight and looking all around. Relaxing when found no sight of her, he shot Genma a murderous look before leaning back a bit more and saying, "I don't know. I'd probably go flying to the other end of the village."

Genma smirked.

From his position, Naruto could make out a lot of the village. It hadn't really changed much from what he remembered. A few new buildings here, an addition there, nothing too drastic, but what he didn't see was the blur of pink and red that was flying down the street.

"NARUTO!" Sakura called out, panting a little and trying to get said blonde's attention. He was crouched on a tall post, scanning the village. _"Well," _she mused to herself, _"if he won't come down when I call him," _she crouched down low to the ground and began gathering chakra in her legs,_ "looks like I'll just have to get him down myself."_

Naruto let out a quick sigh before turning to hop back down to the ground. It was time for him to look for his beloved Sakura-chan. After all this time he couldn't get over the feelings he had for her. If anything, they only deepened. _"I don't mind much, but it wouldn't hurt if she felt close to the same about me."_ He spoke inwardly.

"_Well then why not just ask her out when you see her and find out for yourself if you really want to know." _The Kyuubi said to his jailer. Naruto was glad he had come to terms with the demon, he was a lot more manageable that way.

"_Well first things first, we need to find her. Can't really ask someone out if you aren't talking to them, right?"_

"_Good point. Now turn around and jump down _NOW_!"_ The Kyuubi roared. Naruto did just that, and what happened next left him utterly shocked.

Just as Sakura was about to jump, Naruto was on the ground in front of her, face right in between her breasts. Looking at the stunned Naruto while she herself was frozen, it took a wolf whistle coming from down the street and a bark following it to wake them both up. Naruto stood straight up and scratched the back of his head. So what if they had furious blushes and Naruto was sure he was going to get beaten? That didn't stop him from enjoying the moment.

After five seconds and no head rattling, knee-buckling, back-breaking punches going straight at him, Naruto cracked one eye open to see Sakura staring at him with her cheeks pinker than her hair. "H-hey, Sakura-chan. Long-time-no-see, huh?" He said, trying to break the tension.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it has been, Naruto-kun. I actually need to talk to you abo-" She was cut off by Kiba who ran up to them and looked at Naruto with a ridiculous grin on his face.

"Wow, Naruto! Not even back for an hour and you're already getting action! Way to go buddy!" As he slapped Naruto's back, Naruto's blush deepened and Sakura let out, between clenched teeth, "What. Do. You. Mean. 'Action.' Kiba?" stressing each word for emphasis.

Kiba visibly sweat-dropped. "Oh, uhh, um, nothing. I didn't mean anything. Welcome back, come by my house, later, Naruto!" And with that, Kiba ran off down the street, not wanting to go through any walls.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and spoke in a little bit of a shaky voice, "So, Sakura-chan, how've you been?" He asked. The 'Kun' honorific completely unnoticed.

Sighing deeply, she ignored the urge to go after Kiba. _"Until we see him later, that is."_ Her inner said with a mischievous grin. "I've been good. Busy, but good. How about you?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. _"Should I tell her the truth?"_ He asked himself, assuming Kyuubi would answer him. _"Yes, kid. Tell her the truth. But _don't_ mention anything about being in love with her. It's bad enough I'm caged inside of a pansy, I don't need the rest of the world knowing it." _Naruto would have made an agitated retort if he didn't remember having Sakura right next to him.

"I've been fine." He settled with, not exactly sure how to put it.

"Oh, well that's good. Say, Naruto-kun, can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course you can Saku-" He said before being interrupted.

"NARUTO! YOU'RE BACK!" Yelled Ten-Ten merrily as the ever-stoic Neji Hyuuga walked along side her. "Naruto-kun? Is it really you? YOSH! The wonders of youth brought you back to this village for all to see again!" Lee hollered as he ran towards them all, tears gushing like waterfalls from his eyes.

"Hi guys. What's up?" Naruto said as he scratched the back of his neck a little awkwardly again.

"We were just heading to the Hokage tower to turn in our mission report." Ten-Ten said with a smile. "It's been, what?" she asked, "Almost three years since we last saw you? How have you been? Oh, and 'Hey.' Sakura."

"Hi Ten-Ten. Neji." She nodded in acknowledgement. In all honesty she was getting annoyed with all of the interruptions, but she plastered a smile onto her face all the same.

"I've been fine. The trip felt like forever but it's good to be back. I missed you guys." He said with a bright smile on his face.

"Ten-Ten, we should hurry. The Hokage wanted the report by noon, remember?" After receiving a sigh and a nod from her, the Hyuuga turned to Naruto and Sakura as they all said their "goodbyes".

"Well then, I have something important to tell you. If you don't mind that is, which I really don't thi-" He was cut off once more, but this time it was by Sakura so he didn't mind as much. _"Hey, Kyuubi, how should I word what I'm going to tell her?" "Say it like…"_

"I don't mind, Naruto-kun."

Following the words of the Kyuubi he said, "I brought your love back and he won't leave you again as long as I have anything to say about it." He continues, his own thoughts now, "Of course, missions have to be an exception bu- mmmph" Naruto didn't have time to finish as Sakura moved closer to him and covered his lips with hers. In his haze, he noted how soft her lips were and how at peace he felt, before she leaned back.

Sakura's body acted on impulse as she moved closer to Naruto and kissed him. She liked his speech but was a little concerned as to why he was talking in the third person. After what felt like forever, but in reality was only a few seconds, she broke away from Naruto, and the first kiss she ever had, and confessed, "I love you, Naruto-kun."

He couldn't do anything but blink in confusion. "Well if that's my reward for bringing Sasuke back I might just let him leave again so I can do the same thing." He laughed, almost afraid of what Sakura's comment would be.

Now it was her turn to be confused. She thought he found out about her feelings for him, by her being too obvious or something, but he didn't. She immediately blushed in embarrassment and found the ground to be very appealing. "Oh- Well where is he?" She asked.

Naruto had noticed a slight hint of disappointment in her voice but passed it off. "He's either with Ero-Sennin and Tsunade-Baachan, or on his way to look for you." He said after thinking for a moment. "He wanted to talk to you by the way. Said it was going to be the first thing he did when we got back before Ero-Sennin told him otherwise."

"He said that? Did he tell you why?"

"No, he didn't. But you should go find him and ask."

She let out a deep sigh and smiled slightly. "Ok Naruto-kun. I guess I'll see you later."

"Wait," he said, grabbing her arm lightly. "I want to tell you something else first."

"What is it?"

He sighed deeply and mentally kicked himself for doing that. He knew she wouldn't just leave if he said to forget it. _"She probably only said she loved me because I brought the Teme back."_ "I love you, Sakura-chan." And before he could get a response he released her arm and left faster than she had ever seen anyone move.

"_Did he really mean that?" _Sakura's inner questioned dumbly. Sakura couldn't answer. She was in too much shock. Luckily her feet starting moving on their own and she walked to the Hokage Tower, because otherwise she would just be standing in the middle of the street with her mouth slightly agape.

"Sasuke, I will inform the council of your return and set up the hearing. It may take a few days so you're probably going to have to move in with Naruto until we get you back in the compound. I most certainly can get you reinstated but you will be on parole for at least a year, guaranteed. Is that understood?" Tsunade spoke to the young Uchiha. Jiraiya was leaning against the wall waiting for Sasuke to be dismissed so he could get the debriefing over with.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Thank you for your time and help." Sasuke said as he stood and bowed.

"Very well. Dismissed." Sasuke nodded and disappeared. "Now, Jiraiya, would you care to explain?"

Jiraiya leaned away from the wall and moved to the seat previously occupied by the ex-traitor with a sigh. "About two months ago Naruto and I were travelling through the Land of Lightning, along the border. We set up camp near a waterfall and lake when Naruto went to set up the traps. About an hour after he left I was awoken to explosions off in the distance. I ran towards the source to find those two fighting. Naruto had a few minor injuries, a giant gash down his torso, and was exhausted. Sasuke, on the other hand, looked like he hadn't been fazed at all. That is, until he started sweating and fell to his knees. I saw a gash down his right arm and a burn mark on his back as he started to activate his Chidori Eiso and it sped towards Naruto. Just as it was about to hit Naruto, he and one of his clones came up from behind Sasuke with an Odama-Rasengan and hit the ground right below Sasuke, causing the earth to shatter and launch at Sasuke. He admitted defeat after being nearly buried alive and right before going unconscious."

Tsunade opened her eyes and let out a deep sigh. "None of you know medical jutsu, that I know of, so where did you get them healed?"

"A small village about three miles from where we set up our camp. They did it for no charge and taught Naruto minor healing jutsu. They had a few ninja that would probably be high Genin or low Chuunin compared to us."

"I see. Where was Orochimaru during all of this?"

"He was in Sound. Sasuke was sent up to one of the bases in Lightning for something or another, he couldn't remember. But he _does_ remember where many of Orochimaru's hidden bases are, along with some information on other ninja that follow under him, such as Kabuto."

"That might be very helpful in securing his worth to the council. Thank you, Jiraiya. Unless you have further information you are dismissed."

"I have one final thing to say. Naruto and the Kyuubi are on-Better terms. And Naruto can control four tails of its chakra. But if he maintains four tails for too long he begins to transform. His skin peels and he gets surrounded in solid dark red chakra, looking more Kyuubi than human. He doesn't understand the significance of ally or enemy in this state and the only way I have managed to bring him back is by cutting off all chakra flow throughout his body."

Tsunade nodded. "Understood. Dismissed."

Sakura was almost at Tsunade's office when she saw Sasuke. He had just left the building and was walking down the street that lead to Naruto's apartment. "Sasuke!" She shouted, trying to get his attention. When he walked down the street Sakura jumped onto the roof of the building blocking her view and dropped down next to him. "Hey, Sasuke." She said as he stopped and turned towards her.

"Hey, Sakura. It's been awhile." He replied.

"Yeah, it has been. Naruto-kun told me there was something you wanted to talk to me about, is that right?"

"I do want to talk to you about something, but can we go somewhere a little more private please? I don't think these people are all that excited to see me here." He said as he casually looked around and noticed the hateful glares and got hit in the back by a rock.

"Sure. Let's head over to my apartment. It's not too far from here." She said as she grabbed his wrist and started pulling him in the other direction. "You'll be the first boy I've had on the inside now that I think about it."

"It'll be an honor." Sasuke said with a smile.

"What's up with you? You've already spoken more than you used to in a month, you're smiling, and you're not flinching away from physical contact." Sakura questioned worriedly.

"I guess it's because I finally got over the loss of my family and clan, thanks to you and Naruto. My family is with you two, now." Sasuke answered as his smile widened.

Sakura released Sasuke's hand and unlocked her door ushering him inside. "So, in other words, Naruto beat some sense into you?"

Sasuke let out a true laugh, something Sakura had never heard from him before, and she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I guess the Dobe did."

They walked down the hallway into a medium sized room with a slightly darker than sky blue love-seat couch against the wall underneath a large window with matching curtains. The walls were covered in white wallpaper that had sakura leaves scattered about it. There was a television hidden in a light brown, wooden cabinet with a few movies underneath it. Below the crystal chandelier, that had a pink trim instead of the usual gold, sat two reclining chairs with an average sized coffee table in-between and a plant in the middle of it. A breakfast bar, with two stools on the living room side, was the only barrier between the living room and the kitchen which had a fridge to the immediate right of the doorway, some counter space and a sink traveling from the left of the fridge and rapping around, and finally ending with a stove/oven, before a door lead to the porch that hung off the back of the apartment. A microwave oven was hanging on the wall before the start of the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen, along with the ones under the counter. A window sat above the sink.

"Take a seat and I'll make us some tea." Sakura said as she walked into the kitchen.

"This place is nice. It looks a little big for one person though. Do you share with someone?" Sasuke asked as he looked around after taking his seat.

"No. I live here by myself. I get it for cheap though and it's nice. I've only been here for a few weeks, a month tops. Believe it or not the walls came like that." Sakura replied.

"Interesting. Anyway, what I needed to talk to you about was the day I left."

Sakura didn't seem to be too phased at the topic, unlike what Sasuke had predicted. "There's no need to bring it up, Sasuke. It's all in the past and I've moved on."

"Even so, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. You weren't, and still aren't, annoying, either, it was kind of nice. I was just arrogant and didn't pay attention where I should have. So thank you. Now it's clear I've lost my chance though." He muttered the last part to himself knowing full well where Sakura's heart truly resided.

She didn't seem to pick up the last sentence as she brought over the tea and took a seat. "So, Sasuke, if you don't mind me asking, what was it like to be with that snake bastard so much?"

"I think that should be run by the council first, before I'm allowed to tell you, Sakura. I don't want to chance anything, I'm sorry." He said with more than a hint of remorse.

"Don't be sorry. You have every right to not want to piss off the council." Sakura replied with a small grin.

"Thanks for understanding. So, anything you can fill me in on since I left?"

Naruto arrived at his apartment to find the lights on and two people inside. He looked at the name plate that had "Uzumaki" carved in it for eleven years to see it now said "Murahashi" "Oh well," he sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have expected the owner to save it for me. He always hated me anyway."

Naruto headed away from the apartment complex and started wandering aimlessly down the road. He thought about reporting to Tsunade, but then figured she knew he would want to see his friends first, or at least put his stuff in his apartment. Instead, he decided to visit Kiba. Who knows, maybe he could catch up with him.

"It was a pleasure having you over, Sasuke. I hope you come by again soon." Sakura said as she opened her door for Sasuke to leave.

"Thank you, it was an honor being here."

"Where will you be staying, by the way?" Sakura asked out of curiosity and caring.

"Tsunade-sama told me to room with Naruto until she can hopefully put me back in the compound." Sasuke replied nonchalantly.

"That reminds me! I need to find him and talk to him. The landlord rented out his apartment. The day after Naruto left he took the name plate and burned it, laughing the entire time." Sakura said as she finished putting their dishes away.

Sasuke's eyes flashed red for a second before he settled down again. With a pissed of look he said, "That ungrateful asshole. I bet Naruto was paying ten times what that shithole was worth and he just throws him out like that? Wait until I ge-"

"Sasuke, calm down. There's nothing we can do about it and I'm sure Naruto would be upset if the first thing you did since being back was murdered someone."

Sasuke took a deep breath and flexed his fist until his hand bled a little and his knuckles turned white. "You're right. It's just that, being lost in it myself, I hate people who are consumed by ignorance and assholeness. It irks me to no end." Sasuke replied as he jumped onto Sakura's roof and activated his Sharingan to locate Naruto. "I found him!" He shouted as he pointed to the Inuzuka Compound.

"Of course he's going there. Oh, well, time for me to beat the hell out of Kiba! Shanaaro!" Sakura yelled as she took off into a dead sprint.

Sasuke stared in disbelief that she was already halfway across the village in less than three seconds. In was then he noticed how powerful her chakra was and how condensed it seemed. "Looks like I'm the weak one now. I'll fix that soon enough."

Once Sakura made it to the gates she saw Kiba and Naruto talking and heading in. She didn't slow done or anything, and before anyone knew it Kiba was flying extremely fast into the center of the road. "You knew better than to say what you did!" Sakura yelled at his slumped figure.

"I am REALLY glad I'm not the one who pissed you off this time. Wait… I didn't piss you off, did I?" Naruto said as he backed away waving his hands in front of his face.

"No, Naruto, you did no such thing. But I came to tell you about your apartment."

"Yeah, I already know it was rented out. I saw it earlier before I decided to come here. It's no big deal, I'll find another apartment somewhere." Naruto said. Just then Sasuke jumped down from a nearby roof. "Hi Sasuke."

"Hi, Naruto. Sakura, since Naruto no longer has an apartment, why don't you let him stay with you for a while until he can find his own?" Sasuke offered.

Sakura looked away with a blush on her face while Naruto nervously scratched his head with a slight pain in his heart. "Sasuke, that really isn't necessary. I'll find anot-"

"You can stay with me Naruto. I really won't mind. Sasuke, the offer stands for you as well. It is a rather large apartment, as you know."

"It would be an honor." Sasuke said, bowing.

"I… If you're sure, Sakura. I mean, I don't want to be a burden or anything." Naruto said, still a little pained that she was probably only doing it because Sasuke brought it up.

"Naruto, I **want** you to stay with me. It's the least I can do to repay you for how many times you've helped me and the village. Although, my guest room kind of had a flood incident the other day that has yet to be finished taking care of, and I don't trust you two alone in the same room, knowing how you used to be." Both Naruto and Sasuke looked away in embarrassment. They knew she was referring to the constant fights they got in to.

"You know, we do have a giant compound right behind you with plenty of extra space." Kiba tried saying before Sakura punched him back into the street.

"I'm not done with you! Just sit tight until I finish talking!" She shouted to the, yet again, unconscious man.

"Sakura, please remind me not to piss you off. Like, ever." Naruto said in wide eyed shock staring at Kiba.

"I'll do my best. Now, since I can't give either of you the guest room I'll just have Sasuke sleep in the living room and Naruto sleep with me in my room. Now, Sasuke, you go with Naruto while he talks to the Hokage and show him where my apartment is after and I'll go set the place up." Sakura announced as she healed Kiba and headed to her home. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke even had enough time to respond before she was too far away.

"She loves you, Dobe. Don't fuck it up. Not like I did." Sasuke told Naruto as he started walking away. "I'm stopping by the Uchiha Compound and then I'll be at the Hokage tower. Meet you there." He said as he leapt on to the roofs.

Naruto couldn't process what just happened. In one day he got a kiss from the love of his life, invited to sleep in her home, in **her room** non-the-less, got told she loves him by both herself and his best friend, and it wasn't even half over yet. _"Fox, be honest with me now, am I dreaming? Or did you put me in some dream like state while the real you is trying to take over my body or something?"_

"_You're not dreaming, Kit, and I wouldn't do something like that. I realize now that it would just be a waste of my time because it would end up killing us both."_ The demon within Naruto responded.

"Can this day get any better?" Naruto shouted as he started running towards the Hokage tower. One visit with Grandma Tsunade and he could spend the rest of the day with Sakura and Sasuke. "This has got to be the best day, **EVER**!" he shouted.

Sakura got home as quick as she could. Once she had her shoes off and the door locked, she got to work. Her first goal was to wash the dishes, which were easiest. After that was done she went to clean up her room. It's not that it was particularly messy, but she did have a few stray cloths here and there. She changed over the sheets on her bed, put sheets and a pillow in the living room, and locked the door to the guest bedroom. The final thing she had to do was what she hated most. "I really wish they had self cleaning bathrooms. It would save me a lot of time." She whispered to herself.

Naruto made it to the Hokage Tower as fast as he could. When he arrived, Tsunade had a cup of her favorite sake in hand while she signed off another paper. "Wow, Baa-chan. You've actually made a dent in those!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. The normal ten-foot-high stack of papers was low, only about two-feet.

"Well, Naruto, when you don't have a hyperactive, blonde brat pestering you all day every day, you'd be surprised at what you can accomplish." Tsunade replied with a smug smirk on her face.

"Hey! I gave you a compliment. Is that anyway to treat someone you haven't seen in over two years?" Naruto whined.

"Yes." Was her simple answer. She noted how Naruto muttered something about "Disrespect" and "Old hag" under his breathe but left it alone. "It's good to see you, Naruto. I've already seen Jiraiya and Sasuke though, so do you care to tell me why you didn't report in when you returned?"

Naruto stopped his complaining and took a seat in the comfortable chair in front of the Hokage's desk. "I wanted to see the village and put my stuff in my apartment. I at least got to do one of things." He said, holding up all of his gear. "My apartment got rented out so I had to carry it around with me. I know you planned to have Sasuke stay with me, but seeing as how that's impossible, Sakura has allowed us to both stay with her until we can get a new apartment or you get him back the compound." Naruto explained.

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you, Naruto Uzumaki, have things planned out for once? Are you sure it was Jiraiya with you on that trip? I can't see him teaching you any of that." Tsunade said in utter shock.

Just then Shizune walked into the office. "Lady Hokage, I have more paperwork for you." She wheeled it over and put it with the rest on her desk. It went from the almost complete two feet to a now thirteen foot high stack of papers.

"Just what I need. Thank you for jinxing me, Naruto-Baka!" Tsunade said in annoyance.

"Lady Tsunade, what are you talking about? Naruto and Jiraiya aren't supposed to be back for another week." Shizune said as she turned to leave, spotting Naruto in the chair. "Naruto-kun! You're back! It's great to see you!" She exclaimed merrily, bending over and hugging him tight. "I missed you!"

Naruto was struggling for breath. "I miss- you, too, Shi-" Naruto coughed hard. "Shizune, but you are crushing m-"

"Sorry, Naruto-kun, I was just excited." She explained, releasing him.

"Well, Naruto, it's time for the debriefing. And the sooner we get it over with, the sooner I can start doing some of this paperwork." Tsunade said, growing annoyed from eyeing the tower.

"Right."

"Hey, Sasuke. Right on time, I see." Naruto said as he exited the Hokage Tower and saw Sasuke walking up.

"I actually left and came back. You took so long in there I thought I'd get something to eat." Sasuke helped up and container of take-out ramen from Ichiraku's. "I figured you'd be hungry as well so I brought you back some."

"Wow! Thanks, Teme, this is awesome! I was just about to say we should go get some food." Naruto exclaimed happily as he went to grab the ramen.

Sasuke pulled back. "Not so fast, there. I said I brought you some, not that it was free. If you want this you have to race me to Sakura's. If you win you get it, if not you have to sit and watch me eat it." Sasuke said with a devious smile on his face.

"That's no fair! I don't even know where she lives!" Naruto said, waving his arms around.

Sasuke explained where she lived and got in a race stance. "Come on, Dobe. I want to prove I'm still far superior to you." Sasuke said with a playful, yet intimidating smirk on his face.

"Fine." Naruto said getting is his race stance. "We go on three. One."

"Two."

"Three!" They both said in unison. Sasuke, focused on his route, couldn't see his blonde opponent, so he figured he was winning. Once he got to Sakura's apartment he noticed Naruto, leaning against the wall next to the door.

"It's about time you got here. If I had known you were that slow I would have walked here, sheesh." Naruto said, smiling.

"When did you learn how to move so fast? You couldn't do it during our travel."

"I never needed the speed. As it was now, I only moved at about one tenth of my actual speed." Naruto said, grabbing for his ramen yet again.

"Fine, take it. I really shouldn't have left. Both you and Sakura are better than me now, as much as it pains me to say." Sasuke said, begrudgingly.

"At least you learned something useful. If you ever try to leave again, though, I won't hesitate to totally decimate you." Naruto said, both seriously and jokingly.

"You wish, Dobe." Sasuke knocked on the door for Sakura to open up.

"One minute!" Came Sakura's response. When she opened the door she looked between Naruto and Sasuke before saying "You got ramen and you didn't bring me any?"

Naruto stopped in mid-bite. He finished slurping and said "I didn't know you actually

liked ramen. Besides, Teme got it while I was in the meeting with Baa-chan."

Sakura gave Sasuke a death stare. "I invite you in and you can't even bring me food? How rude." She turned around and jokingly stormed back into her house, leaving the door open for the two. "You can come in, you know!" She shouted, with a laugh, from out of sight.

Once in the living room, Naruto looked around. "Wow!" he said. "This place is amazing! I wish my apartment was like this place." Naruto looked like he was about to explode in excitement.

"Naruto, calm down. You don't need to freak out over it. Do you even know how to be quiet?" Sasuke said, annoyed.

Naruto looked at him. "Yes, when I want to be, or when someone who can kick my ass, namely Sakura, tells me to."

Sasuke just scoffed. Sakura walked out of her room with a blanket. "Here you go, Sasuke. That couch is the most comfy, under the window."

After Sasuke set up his makeshift bed, Sakura came out of the kitchen with some tea and they all started catching up. Four hours had gone by and they were all pretty tired, so they said their "Goodnight"s, and went to where they would be sleeping.

Sakura's room, right across the hall from the moderately sized bathroom with both a tub and shower, was fairly large. She had a bed with pink bed sheets and a red comforter, which she received from her mom as a housewarming gift, and about ten pillows. Above the bed was a medium sized, one pane window, a nightstand with two drawers to the right, a wardrobe to the left, and a closet in the wall on the far right of her room. The only thing that wasn't a shade of red or brown was her "personal beauty area", which Ino made her call it as her housewarming gift, that was black with a gold trim and the words "Sakura. The second best looking Kunoichi in Konoha" engraved in the top of the piece.

Naruto went to change into his pajamas in the bathroom while Sakura did so in her room. Once back, Naruto grabbed a sleeping bag out of his bag, hopped in it, and used the bag as a pillow.

"Naruto-kun," Sakura said, "even if I intended for you to be sleeping on the floor I would have given you a pillow and some blankets, so put that stuff away and get up here."

Naruto stared at her dumbfounded for a minute. "W-wait a mi-minute. You want me to s-s-sleep, up there, w-wi-with you?" He stuttered out. "Are you sure?" A little more clearly this time.

"Of course, Naruto. I wouldn't have told you to if I wasn't serious." Sakura responded with a small blush. Naruto dazedly put his stuff away and stood at the side of the bed. When Sakura laid down on the other side and patted the spot he was to sleep on he shook his head clear and cautiously laid down.

"I have a feeling I'm dreaming." Naruto said, pulling the covers up. It was the time of year for the cold to be setting in, anyway.

Sakura turned on to her side so she was staring at Naruto. "What would make you think that?" she asked.

"Well the biggest reason is that I am currently lying in you b-" He was cut off as Sakura started kissing him. After a minute of him not kissing her back she released him. When she looked back at him she realized he was unconscious. She used her healing jutsu and he awoke with a start. "Well, that was definitely a weird dream. Wait a minute, why is it so comfortab-" He saw Sakura staring at him and knew he wasn't just woken up from dream.

"Naruto-kun, I meant it when I said I love you. I was just hoping you still had some of the f-" This time it was Naruto who cut in. After about five minutes of kissing Sakura re-adjusted herself to be on top of Naruto. She reached down and pulled his shirt over his head and he was doing the same thing to her when he felt a sharp pain in his ribs.

"Naruto! Wake up already! It's time to move out. Three more weeks and we start heading for Konoha."

Naruto looked around. He was still in the forest with Jiraiya and Sasuke. Once he came to his senses he shouted, "DAMNIT!" extremely loud. Jiraiya and Sasuke looked concerned for a moment before Sasuke lost interest. Jiraiya asked his student many questions about what was wrong. His excuse was that his dream was about him being Hokage and it seemed like a long time so he was upset, when in actuality it was the dream with the realistic, but out of character, Sakura, and what would have been the best night of his life.

Sakura shot up in her bed. She had been having strange dreams for the past year, and tonight only had a few differences. This time it seemed like someone took the completely real Naruto and put him in her dream. It felt more real than usual, and she was upset that she was woken up. "Naruto-kun, please hurry back home." She said to herself before starting the day.

Well, there you have it, folks. The first chapter to the first story I have ever written. I want to thank Katie (Her account name is Elizabeth Cartwright) for beta-ing this for me. If you have any questions just shoot me a review or a pm and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time. Bye.

The King- has left- the building.


	2. Traveling

I am here to bring you more Naruto awesomeness! As I said in my profile, I won't be a consistent post-er, like I would hope, but I will do my best. I won't promise anything because life and technology tend to hate me at alternating times, so yeah... Anyway, on to the story!

Sorry about the false update, had to change the title. I don't really like this one, but it fits better. If you have a better title say it in a review and I'll change it. Sorry it took so long, now, on to the story. I plan to have another chapter up by the end of the week, we'll see.

Disclaimer: If I did not put one, who would think I actually owned Naruto? I mean seriously people, come on.

_**Traveling**_

"Naruto, go get some water from the river back there. After breakfast we're heading out. Take Sasuke with you, too. I need my time away from him already." Jiraiya said as he was poking the fire.

"Whatever you say, Ero-Sennin, whatever you say. Let's go Teme. The faster we get this over with the sooner we can get home." Naruto announced as he picked up the six canteens and headed in the direction of the river.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's only response to Naruto.

They were halfway to the river, a good enough distance that Jiraiya would not be able to hear them, when Naruto turned to Sasuke and stopped walking.

"I'm sick of your 'I'm better than everybody' attitude. What will it take to get you to drop it? Sakura will be happy that you are back, but seeing you as stuck up and arrogant as ever can't possibly make her that much happier. I didn't go through all of this to get you back just for you to brood in your mansion again!" Naruto looked like he was about to pummel him.

"I'll stop being 'broody' when you learn to fly. Now leave me alone Dobe." Sasuke then walked around Naruto grabbing his two canteens.

Naruto stared blankly at where Sasuke stood a second ago. He quickly gathered his wits, pivoted on his heel, and marched after Sasuke. _"I made a promise that I would always do my best to make Sakura-Chan happy, no matter the cost. If the only way to get her happy is to get him off his podium, and the only way to do that is to learn to fly, then I'm just going to have to learn how to fly. Yes, that's it, I'll just learn how to fly. How hard could it be?"_ Naruto mentally pumped himself for what he thought to be an easy task.

"**Pathetic human. Do you honestly believe ****You**** will be able to learn how to fly? Few demons can even master the technique, and they all have wings as it is. There is no physical way for you to accomplish this feat. Give up before you kill both of us from exhaustion." **The Kyuubi warned from inside Naruto's head. He wouldn't generally be so caring, but it involved him living aswell, so as such, it was important he intervene.

"_Oh great, you again. What will it take for you to permanently shut up? I'm working on getting everyone to stop being a stuck-up Asshole, might as well get you, too."_ Naruto said to the demon fox. He was expecting a sarcastic remark, but what he got surprised him.

"**If you can manage to become the leader of your puny village, get that girl you keep dreaming of as your mate, and learn to fly on top of it I might, let me emphasize, ****MIGHT****, stop. Oh, and all before you are Twenty-five. Might add a better twist."** The Kyuubi responded after a second of thought. It shocked Naruto, what he wanted that is. All of those things would help him, aswell as the end result. So what would the Fox gain out of this?

"_What do you get out of me completing those, you damn fox?"_

"**Me? Oh, nothing much. I just get to watch all of your failures. Every last one of them. It will be amusing, ne?** The fox all but laughed in Naruto's face.

"_I'll show you, you damn fox."_ "I'll show you all! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and you better believe I'll do it!"

Up ahead at the river, Sasuke smirked. _"Good luck, Naruto."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Naruto, what are you doing? Get to sleep, we arrive in Konoha tomorrow. You wouldn't want to be asleep for our welcome, would you?" Jiraiya said groggily. It was around midnight, well into the time they should be sleeping. Naruto was in a different part of the clearing they were currently camped in, stringing together a bunch a hand signs in a pattern Jiraiya had never seen before. He watched carefully to see what was happening.

"_This has got to work, I have a bunch of the hand signs common in air jutsu together. I'm almost out of chakra though, so if this doesn't work I'm either unconscious or dead. Oh well, here goes nothing."_ Naruto had been thinking almost the same thing for the past few hours. He had been trying to create a flight jutsu and was failing. Unlike the Tsuchikage who really just hid dust in his cloths that he controlled to fly, he was trying to get an actual flight jutsu.

"Here we go!" As he hit the last hand sign he felt the air around him change, and he slowly got pulled off the ground. He couldn't believe it, he was actually flying! He looked towards their camp to see that Jiraiya was walking towards it, carrying something. It kind of looked like a person, but he was too far away and it was too dark for him to be able to tell. He tried walking over but remember he was flying, so he tried to fly over. He felt exhausted, so he opted to land and walk over. _"Crap!"_ he thought, _"how am I supposed to land?"_ He shouted in his mind. Once the words sounded he started to descend.

After he hit ground he took off running towards Jiraiya. When he caught up he saw Jiraiya was indeed carrying someone, and it was him! He closed his eyes and began to panic before he felt another pain in his ribs. He opened his eyes to find Sasuke starring down at him. His face was covered in sweat, and Sasuke's head shaded him from the bright morning's daylight. He looked around to find himself in the clearing, tangled up in his sleeping bag. He saw Jiraiya packing up his sleeping bag and other materials, saw Sasuke's stuff already gathered, and the fire put out.

Naruto quickly stood up. "Am I really me?" he asked, trying to pat down his body to make sure he was actually there.

"How hard did you hit your head when you fell, Dobe? You're fine. You passed out from chakra exhaustion after a ball of air covered you and exploded. It had water droplets and embers in it, aswell. What jutsu did you use?" Sasuke asked. He had seen some pretty interesting jutsu while under Orochimaru, but the thought of a new one that could actually cause a crater intrigued him.

Naruto looked over to the part of the clearing he had been practicing in. He saw a crater bigger than when Tsunade demonstrated her strength after the battle with Orochimaru just to prove to him she wasn't that weak. "Di- did I do that?" He asked as he raised a shaky finger at the crater.

"Yeah, you did. Now hurry up and pack up so we can get back and I can do some more research." Jiraiya said impatiently. As much as he was amazed at the boys strength and ability to make a new devastating jutsu in under a month he would wait to talk about it until he was in the confines of a safer place.

"R-right, Ero-Sennin. I'll be packed in a minute." Naruto said, still a little shaken. He would have to file that string of hand signs away for later exploration, he might have something good. However, as for now he wasn't any closer to getting himself in the air.

"To Konoha! We have Ten more hours of traveling and we will be there. Are you guys ready?" Jiraiya announced proudly. Sasuke gave his normal grunt and Naruto just nodded. "Alright then! Move out!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So Naruto, what are you going to do when we get back to the village?" Jiraiya asked, trying to pass time. They had been moving for six hours straight without a sound from either one of them, and he was getting annoyed. He could see the Uchiha being quite, he was before he left, but Naruto was supposed to be loud and brash, even if he had matured. There must be something wrong, but it wasn't the time yet. So Jiraiya figured starting a general conversation would be the best.

"Train."

Jiraiya's face fell. What got into him? He was acting more and more like Sasuke the longer they were closer together.

"Make sure you fix the new jutsu of yours. If you hit me with it again I'll have no choice but to kill. That's a promise." Sasuke responded, looking over at Naruto.

"_Is it just me, or does it seem like they switched personalities?"_ "Okay guys, let's hurry up. I haven't researched in a week so we could get you boys back, and if you make me waste more research time I'll have to hurt you." At this both Naruto and Sasuke subtly started increasing their speed.

After another hour of travel and extremely minimal conversation Jiraiya was starting to say something as both Naruto got shot away from them, into Sasuke, effectively taking him with him. As the smoke and debris cleared, Jiraiya looked around to notice their bodies had gone into the air and started hurtling away from him at a high speed. He quickly took off in pursuit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke noticed the task of sitting up to be quite difficult, and for some reason he heard breathing in his head. He paid no attention, figuring his adrenaline was causing him to hear his own breathing. He felt a faint chakra from behind where he was looking, so he tried to activate his sharingan just to realize he couldn't. He heard a voice inside his head that was a deep growl.

"**Why am I surrounded by the Uchiha's scent!"** the Kyuubi roared. Sasuke did a quick meditation to see what was happening and nearly shit himself when he saw the Kyuubi trotting around, completely unrestricted, looking at all of what he thought to be memories. Upon sensing a presence, the Kyuubi looked over to Sasuke and bared his fangs. **"Care to explain why I am in your head?"**

Naruto chose this time to wake up, and realized the world looked extremely different. Everything was moving, and it wasn't like he was dizzy, it was all like solid chakra. He heard a scream from his right and turned to see the Kyuubi's chakra begin to leak out of Sasuke. "Sasuke! What's happe-"

He was cut short when another explosion happened sending them both deeper in the ground they were currently sitting. He got up quicker than Sasuke this time and realized he could see normally. He jumped up, looked down at Sasuke, and saw that he no long had Kyuubi chakra leaking from him, and the very light whisker marks that began to appear disappeared. He jumped down and grabbed Sasuke before jumping back up and putting him on the flat ground. Sasuke awoke and looked around. "Fill in those holes. We speak of this to no one, do you understand?" Sasuke all but ordered.

"Whatever. And here I thought you were getting better." Naruto quickly drew a seal and placed it on the ground. The earth began to reform and filled in as if they were never there.

"I felt this strange chakra signal, help me look for it. My eyes aren't responding." Sasuke said as he stood up. Naruto had already stood and turned to look at Sasuke. He saw a tree a little way off and started walking towards it without thinking. Sasuke noticed this and followed him. "Where do you think you're going, Dobe? What's so special about that tree?" Just as they got to it, Naruto bit his thumb and smeared the blood over the wood. The Uzumaki symbol appeared on the ground and just as Jiraiya landed next to them they got surrounded by a beam of light and disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Na- Naruto. I l-l-love!" Sakura promptly sat up in her bed. She looked around to find her room was still as empty as ever. She hung her head low to look at he hands that found their way to her lap. "You." She stood up and looked out her window. It was really a quite beautiful day. "Naruto, I want you to come back home. Please get here soon." She then went to start her day. Again.


	3. Whirlpool's Unwelcomed Guest

Let's get this story going! I tried really hard to make this as good as possible, but it probably isn't. Sorry if that's the case. I only get to write when I'm half-asleep so that doesn't help much. Leave me a review of what you think please! Also, I LIED. I don't only get to write when I'm half asleep. I'm in school as I'm writing this sentence as it is.

Disclaimer: Last disclaimer I'm posting. I might add one to the end of my bio, probably will, but still. I don't own any rights to Naruto except the powers I plan to give him, and even most of those I got help with from a friend. I also own this storyline, which I got help on with from said friend.

Hello, I'm Ian, the co-author of this story and, of course, the friend mentioned in the paragraph above. In this story, I have supplied many ideas that pertain to the central plot, I will be writing out most of the fight scenes, and I will help with organizing the plot as a whole. Enjoy.

P.S. I don't agree much with how he did this fight scene, but this one was actually his idea, so... I will be going through later ones, with him present, and probably tweaking things I find especially terrible.

P.S.S. I forgot to say this before, but this story is in parts for a reason. We haven't worked out all the specifics, but later parts will be cross-overs. Each one will have it's own story-line following that, so none need to be read together. Thanks, now on to the story!

**Whirlpool's Unwelcomed Guest**

*Thud*

The sound of three of Konoha's most powerful shinobi landing on their asses in the middle of some place they did not know was not very loud, but it could be noticeable to the trained ear. They quickly gathered themselves and tried to survey the area.

"Good going, Dobe. What'd you do that for? Now we're stuck in the middle of a ghost town."

"Shut up Teme. I don't know what happened. It was like I had no control over my body," Naruto said as he was looking around. He noticed that the symbol that was on the tree was on the majority of the rubble in the desolate village. "Those symbols, they were on that tree, weren't they? It's the same as on my jacket. Ero-Sennin, you got this for me, do you know what it means?"

"_Tch, figures. He picks now to be vigilant. No point lying_." "It's the Uzumaki symbol. We are in what used to be the Whirlpool Villa-" A shuriken whistled through the air and landed with a small thud directly in front of Jiraiya, effectively shutting him up and drawing his attention.

"You three," said a ninja from on top of a mostly intact wall, "Get out of my home or I will kill you." He proceeded to pull out five more shuriken and two kunai from the holster on his leg. The shuriken sailed through the air at an intense speed towards Jiraiya with a great whirring sound.

"We did not come here for trouble, it was j-," Jiraiya tried to interject, but stopped to dodge the incoming shuriken. He dove to the left behind a large pile of rubble and prepared for a counterattack against this unknown enemy.

The ninja reached into his holster and removed a scroll. He lashed out his left hand, which held the scroll which unraveled in the air while he used a one handed handsigns to trigger the scroll's effect. From the scroll, a near endless onslaught of ninja tools flew towards Sasuke and Naruto, who both dove away and took cover against the attack.

"I have warned you, shinobi," the ninja hollered at the top of his lungs, "Now, time for you all to die!" With a flick of his hand, he slipped a kunai from his sleeve into his hand and rushed towards the hiding spot of Jiraiya. The ninja leaped up on the pile of rubble and threw the kunai down on Jiraiya's position with malicious intent. But, Jiraiya wasn't there. The kunai only made a loud thud as it struck the ground in a space that should have been occupied.

From out of nowhere, Jiraiya dove out at the ninja and delivered a swift punch to the back of the mysterious ninja's head. The ninja flew forward several hundred feet from the spot with a loud slamming sound upon impact with the ground.

Jiraiya approached the ninja cautiously and readied himself for the slight possibility of a counterattack. He lifted up the arm of the ninja only to see it flop back on the ground, and proceeded to check the pulse.

"He's out cold. Tie him up and grab his weapons. We don't want any surprises. Sasuke, go look for anyone else."

"Hmph," Sasuke responded as he put his hands in his pockets, leaped on to what used to be a store, and jumped off to search for other ninjas in the area.

"_Well whatever was wrong with their attitudes seems to be fixed, but now I'm stuck with the brooding Uchiha again. I don't know which one is worse."_ Jiraiya thought in his head as he started looking around to see if there were any seals or anything on the ground that could have brought them there.

"Sleep tight," Naruto said as he finished with the rogue ninja. He saw Jiraiya looking at the ground and walked over to him. "What now, Ero-Sennin? How much further away from Konoha are we?"

"For now, we need to search the village to see if there are any enemies nearby, then find out how we got here, and we will go from there." Jiraiya said as he stopped looking at the ground and stood up. "Split up and look for mo-"

"Get over here! I found something!" Sasuke's scream was heard by Naruto and Jiraiya who grabbed kunai as they started to head to his voice. After about a minute they found an almost completely intact building, but one of the corners was destroyed. Sasuke's shout of "Hurry up!" alerted them that he had gone inside the building, so they did.

"Hey, Teme, where are you?" Naruto said once he entered the building, which had an flags with the Uzumaki symbol everywhere, an alter in the front, and a few worn out mats near it. "Is this a shrine or something?" Naruto asked as he looked to Jiraiya.

"I don't know Gaki, just pay attention. Yo, Sasuke, where are you? I can't sense your chakra." Jiraiya said as he looked around the place.

"Try checking the giant ass hole behind the alter. I can't use chakra at all down here. No wall walking, enhanced jumping, or fire jutsu to see what the hell this place is."

Naruto frowned and said "Hold on, I'll toss you a torch." As he reached into his pouch and pulled out a scroll. He opened and read it until he found "Torch" and put some chakra into the seal. Once Naruto released the chakra, instead of it going in to the seal as he planned, it flew across the hole and in to the wall. After a few seconds the entire side of the hole rotated and showed a later, causing Naruto to say "What the hell was that?"

Jiraiya looked down the hole and sighed. "I'll explain later, but for now, lets go get your teammate."

Naruto looked down the hole before trying the seal in his scroll again. This time it worked and a wooden stick appeared with another seal on top of it. He repeated the process of sending chakra through the seal and the result was a burning torch. He went around the other side of the hole and started sliding down the ladder by the sides, instead going rung by rung, with Jiraiya following suit.

"Hey, Dobe, are you going to give me a torch or what?" After thirty seconds of no response, Sasuke got angry and was about to scream when he saw a light falling towards him. He prepared to catch it when he got hit by something big and heavy. He pushed it off and screamed "Usuratonkachi! What the hell? What the fuck was that?"

"That would be me, Teme. No need to shove me either." Naruto said from right next to him.

"I swear I'm going to kill you for being such an idiot and fal-" *Thud, thud*

"What just broke my fall?" Jiraiya stood up and picked up the torch, revealing Sasuke where he just was. "Oh, sorry about that. Anyway, lets get moving." As he started to walk down the tunnel.

Naruto and Sasuke both stood up, before Naruto unsealed and lit another torch for himself. As they started to walk and catch up with Jiraiya, Naruto saw a seal on the wall and said "Hey, Jiraiya! Come take a look at this seal. I don't recognize all the parts of it."

Jiraiya looked back and saw what Naruto was talking about. "It's a seal for light that requires blood. Wipe some on it and this hall should be lit up."

"Alright Ero-Sennin." As he did what he was told. After a few moments the walls began to glow, before the glow shrank and revealed a hole the stretched through the hall in the wall just above their heads blocked by glass. They saw that the hall stretched farther than the eye could see and that, even though they had been walking for around ten minutes, they were only a few feet from the ladder and the hole to the surface, which slowly sealed.

"What the hell is going on here? First the hole, then the chakra, then YOU, now this. When we get out of this I'm killing you both." Sasuke threatened as he began to walk down the tunnel. Just then Naruto started walking like he was dead to the world again. He was going back the way they came, and it caused both of his teammates to look at him. "Dobe, don't do anything stupid again!"

It was too late. Naruto had already bitten his thumbs, strung many odd hand signs together, and shoved both his hands into the wall where the ladder had been. They entire hall started moving, turning to re-align itself, until Naruto pulled his hands out of the wall and it stopped on a door. Still not himself, Naruto started walking down the hall. When he came close to Jiraiya, his eyes flashed. They became grey for a fraction of a second with a shocking design in them. Jiraiya froze in shock before he started to follow Naruto. Sasuke, seeing this, grunted and followed aswell. Once they reached the door, Naruto took the almost dried blood on his hand, drew his clan symbol on a odd looking section of the door, and it creaked open.


	4. The Power of Seals

Read and review if you would be kind enough. You clearly do not have to, but it would be awesome. Now I know why all of the other author's tell you to do it, they really do make you feel great.

_Italics are thoughts and writing._ **Bold is Inner Self or Demon.**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**The Power of Seals**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Darkness. Once the door opened that's what greeted the three. The light from the hallway disappeared, Jiraiya's torch went out, the one Naruto dropped when he got possessed went out, and chakra suddenly became unusable again.

"Why the hell can't I feel any chakra in me right now? What is going on here? Naruto, what are you doing?" Jiraiya began to panic. He did not understand what was happening and he did not like it. Naruto walked into the room, ignoring his sensei's questions. He stopped a few feet into the room, and he began to glow. Orange illuminated the doorway, and soon spread to the rest of the room. The light revealed doors around the entire room, totaling around twenty. Once the light reached the opposite end of the room from the door, Jiraiya saw two statues facing eachother, holding opposite ends of a scroll. He walked in to the room towards the scroll and once he got close, he felt a hand on his shoulder drag him back. He turned to see Sasuke holding him and was about to say something when he felt air rush by him and he turned back to the statues. There were arrows imbedded in the ground and the floor moved showing a flowing stream of lava underneath.

"I thought the Dobe was dumb. Pay more attention, I don't feel like saving you from death." Sasuke walked back out into the hall and picked up Naruto's dropped torch before walking back and putting it above the lava and had it relight. Once he did that, he fell in a pit of water, but instinctively tried to use his chakra to stand on top of it. He was surprised when it worked.

"I'm not the only one who has to pay more attention, smart-ass. Get up before something that managed to live down here decides you'd make a great snack." Jiraiya turned back to Naruto and saw he was in a meditative position, so he figured it would be best to leave him alone, as much as he hated it.

As Sasuke was about to jump out of the thirty-foot pit with chakra enhanced strength, the chakra he forced out of his body flew out of the pit and into a seal on the wall of the room itself. A spiral staircase emerged out of the walls, which Sasuke quickly ascended, not wanting them to go away or change on him. Once he got up, the pit resealed and part of a wall started glowing. As he approached the light, it took the shape of a door with "Uchiha" printed above it. He was about to reach for the handle when Naruto jumped on to the ceiling of the room, did a few hand signs, slammed his hands together, and jumped on to the lava and stood on it like it were a stream of water.

"Gaki, are you insane? You'll burn!" Jiraiya yelled. After a few seconds, the lava coated Naruto in what appeared to be armor, before it reached out and picked up the scroll. Placing it down in front of Naruto, the lava merged to his skin. A faded kanji for Yoton (Lava) appeared on his back for a few seconds, before disappearing. Though no one would know due to him still wearing all his clothing with the lava having no effect on it.

Naruto blinked. He blinked again, again, and then yet again. Then he turned to look at Jiraiya, who had concern on his face, before he smiled and gave a thumbs up, then passed out.

"Hn. Dobe. I'll be back." Sasuke said as he opened the door saying Uchiha.

"It's probably already late. We might aswell make camp in here tonight. I'll set up the sleeping mats." As he was talking there was a click after camp, and another after sleeping. Once the second click was heard, part of the wall glowed again, before the floor dented in forming a rut from one wall to another, and water started flowing through it. "And now I guess we have water. I'll get it tested later. Hurry up Uchiha."

"Hmph. Whatever." Sasuke said as he opened the door. He wanted to know why there was a room labeled after his clan in a different village. He found scrolls of varying sizes, aswell as a box in the center of the room. He went for the box first and, after making sure it wasn't booby trapped, opened it. Inside was a note. It read: _"Blood for blood, and the world will bathe in red, life after life and it all will shed. An enemy's blade for an ally's head, will bring all to be dead. But only one with pure heart and mind, will bring true power for only one to find."_ While the back read: _"I did not fully comprehend what this meant, but I was told it by a figure bathed in light. Many years ago a few Uchiha broke off from the main clan in Konoha to come here: Whirlpool. Supposedly home to the greatest bloodline ever to exist. It was only reported once, before the time of even the Rinnegan and the Sage of the Six Paths. A few of us had been going through a shrine, not dedicated to anyone or thing, just a shrine, when a flash of light caught our attention. We looked up and the light told us the saying on the other side of this paper. It also dropped something, a seal more precisely, but we never could figure out what it did or how it worked. The thought of power, however, eventually drove the others mad. I will not lie and say I haven't been tempted by the power, but I don't wish to end up like the others and so I'm trying to resist as much s possible. The Uzumaki's are amazing with seals, but even they can only recognize 'power' as one part of the seal. I have asked the leader of Whirlpool to seal it off, along with this note and all the Uchiha knowledge that we brought. I am the last one, and I think it is only because of my eyes. I unlocked a level never before recorded or rumored. I put all of the knowledge I had on them in a scroll that will only open to someone who is worthy. That is all. Good luck. And everything sealed away with this is now the rightful property of the reader if he be Uchiha. Congratulations."_

As he put the note back down, another light flashed for a moment, and a podium grew out of the ground with a case on top. Inside was an Uchiha battle fan with buttons along the handle. Sasuke opened the case and grabbed the fan, which turned out to be two, and got in a fighting stance. The fans started to buzz until they flew out of his hand and attached themselves under the handle of his sword. He drew it, and when he got a firm grip the fans opened. He decided he would have Jiraiya seal all of the contents in the room so he could assess it better later on. Once he sheathed the sword, the battle fans folded over to cover the handle, and continued until the sword and sheath were gone. They then flew back up to his waste and shot out a belt with a fan case in them. Sasuke looked for a moment before grabbing the scroll in the case. He opened it and saw the index of seals, all containing other scrolls about the specific part. He sighed and put it in another slot that formed in the shape of a scroll, before walking out of the room.

"Jiraiya, how's the Dobe?" said Sasuke as he entered the main room.

Jiraiya looked up. "He's fine. Mild chakra exhaustion but nothing he won't be over by morning. What was in the room?"

"Some Uchiha left the main clan and came here. That room contains everything they had. Could you seal it in scrolls for me so I can get it later."

Jiraiya looked mildly concerned. "Are you really asking someone for help? Well in that case sure. Oh, if only I had a camera to remember this moment forever. Watch the Gaki, it'll be a few minutes."

Sasuke simply nodded. Ten minutes passed until Jiraiya left the room with five scrolls in his hand. He looked at Sasuke who had unsealed the extra sticks they collected and made a fire using the torch. He saw the unsealed fish being cooked and the rice being boiled. "Don't you just love sealing?" Jiraiya said as he sat down.

"Yeah."

"You seem to be struggling to remain as stuck up as you have been. Is there something you're hiding?" Jiraiya asked as he handed Sasuke the scrolls.

"It's nothing." He said as he watched the fire. He saw images of his life with the snake and cringed mentally. He sighed. _"When I killed Orochimaru, I don't know what happened. I just felt- different. I can't describe it. I didn't feel the need to brood anymore I guess. The only reason I'm keeping it up now is because I'm using it as encouragement for him. If Naruto thinks he can get me to 'remove the stick from my ass' by becoming stronger, then he will try harder than if it was just training. And I have a bad feeling that something really bad is going to happen."_

"Right. Well, I'll set up the traps, just make sure the food is ready by the time I'm done. I'm starving." Jiraiya said as he stood up.

"Hn."


	5. A Glimpse of Home

No apology can make this alright... Heh, sorry for the wait. I hope you are all still here with me and await this update as much as my dream versions of you did.

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Naruto sat up in a cold sweat. He had vague dreams of being burned alive in a pit of lava, being surrounded by evil and darkness, and having to embrace the bitter loneliness that was the first twelve years of his life.

Upon taking stock of his environment, he knew he wasn't in the waking world. "I can except flying lava, a sober Tsunade, polite Jiraiya, and hell, even a slgihtly-happier-than-average Sasuke. What I can't except, however, is that the real Sakura is really asleep on my chest holding me like her snuggle buddy. I have woken up from this dream way too many times to take any sense of 'real life' out of it.

Sakura groggily opened her eyes and stared up at her moving pillow. "Naru-kun, I was having a nice dream, why are you yelling? Did you have the dream again where I hated you?"

Naruto stared quizically at the pink haired beauty in his lap. "_This can't be right. Sakura doesn't like me like this. She likes the Teme. I'm having a very good-very bad-very good... A very bood dream. I'm having a very bood dream, the real Sakura is at her house, dreaming of the bastard, and I'm sleeping with Jiraiya and Sasuke._" Naruto prepared to speak to Sakura before he face-palmed and thought to himself. "_Inner thoughts or not, in a dream or not, this needs to be clarified. I'm not sleeping with those two, that would be terrible and I don't roll that way. We are all merely sharing a confined space, in a clearing, alone, in the woods, ater traveling together for nearly half a year. That's all, nothing else is going on._"

"Naru-kun, is everything okay? You haven't said anything since I've woken up." Sakura began as she sat up a little to be closer to his face. "Do I need to bring you back to the world of the living?" She leaned in to give him a kiss, which he prepared himself to recieve, even if it was only a dream. As he closed his eyes he felt her lips land on his forhead. Then again and again, until he opened his eyes and realized he was in a dark cave with no clue where he was.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"It's always in the good parts... I like my dreams from a week ago better, they left less of an empty feeling inside of me when they ended." Sakura sat up from her desk at the hospital and mean-looked the miniature pile of paperwork Tsunade assigned to her the hour before. "I'm her medical student, not her Hokage-in-training. I shouldn't have to sign of on official Konoha documents. Lazy drunk."

"What was that Sakura, about a drunk?" Tsunade calmy said as she walked in the room and quickly noticed the drool next to the untouched paper. "Ah, I noticed someone else has been nodding off at their desk of late."

Sakura straightened out and bowed to her master. "Sorry Tsunade-shishou. I haven't been sleeping so well, and I must have dozed off when I tried resting my eyes. It won't happen again." She bowed again, hoping her master would except her explanation.

"Don't make promises you can't keep. If you continue this line of work there will be plenty of nights you won't make it home, and most of those will result in un-intended sleep. Now, what where you talking about a lazy drunk?"

Sakura sweat-dropped. "One of my patients was a lazy old man who stumbled in drunk. I had to fix a cut on his knee he got from falling." The look of knowing she got from her master told Sakura her lie had been seen through.

"Alright Sakura, if that is the story you wish to go with. Once that stack of paperwork is finished we have a training session on training ground 13." With that Tsunade walked out of Sakura's office, and she both relaxed and tensed at the same time.

"She didn't yell at me here, but I know this training session is not going to end well."

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Training ground 13 came into sight as Sakura was hopping through the trees. Her quick reflexes are what saved her from the kunai flying at her from the side. She hopped down from the trees and drew one for herself, now fully alert of everything around her. Two more kunai flew at her from the front, and as she was about to dodge she sensed three senbon coming towards her from different directions. She adjusted her dodge to accomodate for them, and they all collided above her. She saw the poison on one senbon and noticed too late that they were all poisoned. She cast a replacement jutsu with a log just as they were about to embed in her, and she dove underground with the headhunter jutsu. She still had no clue where her master was, but this way she could atleast get a seconds repreve from being bombarded.

"Sakura, your objective today is to heal three targets hidden around this training ground, while simultaneously keeping yourself alive. Two targets will offer to help you, and one of those two will betray you. It is up to you to determine who is lieing and who is telling the truth. Should you manage to retrieve the targets, you may then choose to retreat, or fight me. Should you win that fight, you will get a month off from training."

Sakura's ears perked up at that last comment. A whole month of from training would be just the vacation she needed. But at the same time, she didn't believe she would be able to beat her master. "_I wonder who the targets are, and who will be the one to offer assistance._" She raced around the grounds still using her headhunter jutsu to try and find the targets. The first one she noticed the first target and surveyed the area around him. She new it wouldn't be this easy, so she sent up a stone clone first.

It immediately got punched into oblivion.

"_So Tsunade, or a clone of Tsunade, is guarding this target. Suprise sup-_" The ground started shattering apart as Tsunade slammed her fist into the ground.

"In battle you wont always have time to think it over Sakura. You need to be on your toes and avoid damage." Tsunade scolded as her student rolled to her feet and crouched down low.

"Yes shishou, I'll do my best." Sakura lept forward stringing hand signs together. She faked a punch to Tsunade's head with her left hand as a stone sword formed in her right. She spun to land a hit on Tsunade that shattered the sword and made the clone disappear. "_Good. I don't know what I would have done if I smashed the real Tsunade over the head with stone._" She split off an earth clone to guard her back as she went to heal her first target. "Kakashi-sensei, wake up. Quickly, before Tsunade comes back."

The perverted Jonin slowly opened his one visible eye and stared up at his student. "Thanks." Was all he said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura sighed. "Well, looks like I won't be getting help from him. Damn it, he is one of the strongest ninja in the village. Who else could help me stand up against Tsunade?" Sakura motioned to her clone and they set out towards the next chakra signature they felt. It was faint, like the person was near death, so they went faster than normal to reach them quickly. "_Tsunade wouldn't put someone in any real danger, would she? No, she wouldn't. And besides, she most likely has a clone nearby anyway to heal whoever it is if I take too long._"

Sakura sent her clone to check for traps and Tsunade while she surveyed the small clearing around the target. "_That's why it is suh a weak chakra signature, it's Lee. He doesn't really have much chakra to begin with._" Sakura's clone exploded after setting off an unseen explosive tag. "_Glad it wasn't me, but I don't sense Tsunade anywhere. She couldn't expect me to fall for a few traps alone._" Sakura was about to jump down before she spotted a floating Sakura petal in the trees.

There were no cherry blossom trees in this forest.

"Kai!" Sakura shouted. The forest around her melted away and she found herself about to be on the receiving end of her master's punch. She backflipped out of the way and kicked her master'sjaw in one fluid motion, putting some space between the two. "I barely even noticed I was under a genjutsu, when did you start it?"

Her master smirked. "All good things in time, Sakura. Genjutsu is the lastthing I'll be training you in." Tsunade faded into a puddle that smelt strongly of alcohol and sank in to the ground. Sakura quickly called upon her chakra for a jutsu. "Doton: Kakimawasu!" (Earth style: Churn) The earth around Sakura begin to move and grind. After a few moments Sakura heard a pop as Tsunade's clone dispersed underground. She stopped her jutsu and realized she was starting to run low on chakra. "_This is bad. If things keep up at this rate I won't be able to challenge Shishou at the end, let alone have a chance to win._" Sakura bounded over to Lee, who was snoring as if he were asleep. Sakura scanned him to find out he was poisoned, and it was keeping him unconcious. She infused some of her chakra into his system and urged his blood to bring the poison to a central area, while she made a small incision. Once the poison was collected, she formed a bubble of chakra around it and pulled it out through the cut she made.

Lee opened his eyes immediately once the poison was removed. "Yosh! Thank you Sakura-san! My fire of youth is burning furiously once more!" Lee leaned up as if he was about to kiss Sakura before she put her hand in his path.

"I'm sorry Lee, but I still don't like you like that." Lee looked down in defeat.

"Will you atleast let me assist you in the battle? I can't let you go by yourself." Lee looked back up at her with pleading eyes, way too large for his face to fit.

"_He is the one who is supposed to help me fight Tsunade? Well, I suppose he would be able to get in close before she would have a chance to see him. He can be extremely fast when he takes off those waits._" "Sure Lee, I would love your assistance." The green clad ninja jumped to his feet proclaiming his excitement over helping his love. "_He's a nice person and all, but I just don't have feelings for him._"

Inner Sakura took this moment to chime in. "_He's like a more youth obsessed version of Naruto. But make sure you don't let your guard down. Don't forget, Tsunade said one fo the two offering us help would betray us._"

"_I can't see him doing that to us,_" replied outer Sakura "_But I'll keep my eyes peeled._"

"Sakura-san! Are you ready to head out? It probably isn't a good idea to stay in the same area too long." Lee started looking around concerned, and Sakura realized they had been there for a rather long time for a battle.

"You're right Lee, lets go. I sense the last chakra presence, follow me." Sakura stood up and started rcing through the trees. The branch she prepared to stop on broke under her, and she started tumbling towards the ground. Before she could react, Lee jumped down from the tree line and pushed her out of the way. Sakura was confused, until she saw a senbon inbed itself in his neck. Close to a fatal shot, but just far enough away that he would make it. Sakura landed and deflected two senbon that were rushing through the air towards her, and was about to start a jutsu when Lee burst from behind her and began trading blows with the Slug-sannin.

"Go heal the last person, I'll keep her distracted!" Lee yelled inbetween blows. Sakura, not wanting to waste any time, rushed to the last target. She didn't want to have to heal the target that was probably going to betray her, but she could always refuse their help. She landed next to the chakra signature and saw one of the last people she expected to see. It was Konohamaru.

"This is strange. Why would Tsunade-shishou choose him as one of the targets?" She began healing him when she felt air displace behind her. She quickly ducked forward just in time to avoid a kick that most certainly would have taken her out of the competition. She didn't get to turn around as she had to take Konohamaru's body with her in a headhunters jutsu underground and pop up behind the tree line. She finished healing him and went into full alert mode. She knew her master was good, but she didn't think she would be able to deal with Lee's speed that quickly.

"Sakura, let me help you take out that old hag! I never agreed to help you train, she just knocked me out without warning." Konohamaru sat up behind Sakura, who formed a water clone to keep a look out.

"I would appreciate the help, but you pro-" Sakura's clone was blown into her, cutting her sentence short. She recovered in time to see a flash of green where her clone had been. "_Lee was the traitor!? But he sounded so genuine. And since Kakashi just let right off the bat that means I really am supposed to get help from Konohamaru. Great, I have a genin to help me take on the second fastest ninja in the village and the Hokage. Great._" "Konohamaru, I accept your help. Now watch out!"

"Sakura, agreeing to take help from two people is cheating." Tsunade tsked as she appeared beside her apprentice and punched the ground. Sakura jumped up over the debris and formed the handsigns to launch a water spear at her master. Lee appeared between them and kicked the spear away.

"You never said I wasn't allowed to accept both of them. It just so happens that I accepted the wrong one first." Sakura landed a few feet away and Konohamaru jumped to her side.

"Are you sure you wish to challenge me Sakura? Before you choose, I need to make something clear. If you win, you get your month like I said. But should you lose, you have to do all of my paperwork until six months after Naruto gets back." Tsunade began smoothing out her outfit from the previous attack. She assumed Sakura wouldn't dare take the risk, and didn't want to lose anytime before she could return to tackling her mountain of paperwork. She convinced Shizune that if she got it all done they could go out drinking and Shizune wouldn't complain. It was going to be a great night.

Tsunade began walking towards the hokage building. "As I expected. I will se-"

"I accept those conditions!" Sakura shouted before regretting it. She knew she had no chance of beating her master and Lee with only Konohamaru as her ally. She had no idea why she said it, but the look of disbelief that flashed on Tsunade's face made it almost worth it.

Tsunade had turned around at Sakura's proclamation. She never expected Sakura to except the deal, and as such was shocked to see her student flying towards her with a fist cocked back and ready to fire.

"Hokage-sama!" Lee yelled as he jumped to intercept Sakura. That was what she expected. She quickly formed her stone sword and repeated the same trick that caught Tsunade off guard. Lee saw this, shifted to block that rather than the punch, and was met with Sakura smirking as she punched his lights out. Lee skidded, bounced, and rolled through the forest, oly coming to stop in the base of a rather large tree.

"Wow." Was all Konohamaru managed to mumble as he watched the massive display of strength.

Tsunade regained her composure and rushed head on to meet Sakura. As they began throwing punches at eachother it was clear that Sakura had finally managed to match her own potential for strength. Each blow made a loud clapping noise and let off a little shockwave from there colliding hands, and with each kick you heard the fracturing and quick healing of bones as they both coated themselves with healing chakra. It was a move that required immense chakra control, a vast knowledge of medical jutsu, and a superb understanding of your own body and how it works.

By the time they seperated, Sakura had nearly exhausted te chakra she had available, and was debating whther or not she should give up now, before she saw Konohamaru jump in front of Tsunade. She thought for sure that she would just bat the brat away, but he ducked under her punched and formed a handsign that Sakura remembered all too well.

"Sexy girl-on-girl jutsu!" He yelled as a poof of smoke covered him, before revealing two naked woman, modest only because of the smoke the covered their most private of places. Sakura prepared herself for a furious yell from Tsunade before she let out one of her own, but realized Tsunade had been stunned in place again. "Now Sakura-chan." Said one of the girls as they winked towards her. Sakura decided to beat the kid later and opted to get her master in a position of defeat.

"I submit." Tsunade said through gritted teeth. Konohamaru dispelled his jutsu and began jumping for joy. "Now let me up so I can beat the Naruto out of him." Sakura jumped away and bowed with her arm outstretched as to usher her master towards her target.

"Yes Hokage-sama. And thank you for the assistance Konohamaru, but if I were you, I would run away as fast as I could." Sakura glanced up to see a smokey outline of Konohamaru where he had been standing. "Today is a good day." Sakura said as she started smiling. She had a month vacation, she finally beat her master, albeit with some unexpected methods, and her beloved Naruto-kun was do back any day now. She watched as her master sprinted after her now former ally and quietly laughed to herself as she began walking home to clean up.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Naruto opened his eyes. As he glanced around he noticed the sleeping forms of Jiraiya and Sasuke. There was a single fish on a stick above the embers of a fire, and a small pile of cold rice sitting in the pot directly next to the fire. He looked to his left, where he heard the sound of running water, and saw what looked to be a man made river. On the other side he saw two beautiful gold statues. As he stared at the statues, he realized they began to pulse with a very dim energy, barely visible. Naruto looked around the room, and the longer he looked, the more each item began to have an aura of energy. When he looked down at his traveling companions he immediately had to avert his eyes as the energy emission from them was so bright. Once he decided to open his eyes he saw a scroll on the ground next to him. Hoping it was from Jiraiya about what happened after he blacked out or something he picked it up. The faint energy around the scroll burst into a field that nearly encompassed him, and slowly recessed into nothingness. A seal that had been on the scroll faded away, and Naruto felt as if the scroll became much lighter.

"I have no clue what's going on. This is a little weird." Naruto slowly unraveled the scroll to see a table of contents under the title of the scroll. _Everything You Need To Know About The Hakai No Ai,_ and the subtitle _As You Need To Know It._

"Hakai no ai means the Eye of destruction. What the hell is this supposed to mean? Whatever, I've had enough of sitting here. I'm going to look around this dark, dingy place." At this the room dropped a string with a light attached next to Naruto, and the black cave-like walls slowly brithened in color until they were closer to light grey than black. "This place weirds me out to no end." Naruto mumbled. He decided he wouldn't focus on anything for too long as he went towards one of the doors in a corner. He didn't want anything glowing and burning his eyes anymore. The door was in arm's length before he realized there was no handle. He sighed before starting the signs for the headhunter jutsu. He was going to try and phase through the door. As he began manipulating chakra it flew out of him and in to the door infront of him. It glew orange before fading out to reveal the word "History". The door opened and Naruto walked in, looking around. He saw what appeared to be never ending shelves of scrolls lined up along the walls, and a column with artwork down the center of the room.

Looking at the first few pieces, he saw nothing but a few shacks inside of the forest next to a large body of water. But as he went on the building became larger and more showed up, until it started taking shape as well-on-its-way village. Then one picture had nothing but water and the tops of a few trees. "The whole place got destroyed, that really sucks. But clearly there is something here now, so they must have rebuilt. I'd love to keep looking, but I want to see the rest of this place and I know I'm probably not coming back here." Naruto started towards the exit before thinking out loud. "Hey, room, you've done a lot of things. Can you store all of this stuff so I can bring it with me?"

As Naruto was looking around he noticed the energy in the walls start increasing, and he closed his eyes to prevent any damage. Each shelf of scrolls sealed into the shelf itself, which rolled into a scroll, and each stack of shelves rolled into a scroll. The far side of the room started shrinking, pushing the furthest down scrolls into the closer ones. Every pile of five scrolls sealed in to one, and the end result was a scroll on both sides of the room next to Naruto. The paintings had a much more simple process of sealing. The furthest painting sealed in to a scroll on the wall, which folded on to the one next to it, and the process repeated until there was just one scroll ready to be taken. Naruto looked at the once massive contents of the room now sealed in the bindings of paper smaller than his arm and was dumbfounded.

"Everything I know about sealing tells me that should be impossible, but here it is. The end result should be atleast a hundred scrolls if not more." The walls on the side of the room slowly pushed in, moving the scrolls closer together. Once they were all next to eachother, a final scroll decended from the ceiling and sealed them, leaving just one for Naruto to take.

"By far the strangest day I have ever had." Even glimpsing at the scroll hurt Naruto's eyes, because he saw just how much energy was required to keep all of those items combined into one scroll. Naruto picked it up and put it in his bag, before heading to the next room. Rather than trying to use a jutsu, he just called some of his chakra to the surface and felt it leave him. It flew in to the door and the glowing process began again.

_**XXXXXXXXXX**_

Jiraiya awoke to a muttering of "Damn it." He looked around and saw a mostly naked Naruto kneeling near the hole in the wall where the water was entering. Naruto proceeded to stand back up, form a long string of hand signs, and conjure up two spheres of air- one in each hand. The water under Naruto's feet also started moving extremely fast in circular patterns. It remind Jiraiya of the Rasengan, but he could tell it wasn't supposed to be a change in chakra form. Naruto's heels lifted off the water, before the balls of air destabalized and he collapsed in.

"Damn it! This isn't working. I need a new approach." Naruto swam to the edge of the water and climbed out. The water started evaporating off of Naruto insanely fast, almost as those he was standing next to a fire. "Huh, that's weird. Oh well, just another thing to chalk up to this room." Naruto grabbed for his clothes which were lying on top of his bag and quickly re-robed. Jiraiya chose this moment to alert Naruto to his awakeness.

"What was that you were trying on the water?" Jiraiya was shifting to sit up, not quite yet ready to stand.

"Just a jutsu I was working on. I'm trying to learn how to fly!" Kiraiya deadpaned at his student and just shook his head. "You don't believe I can do it, do you?"

"Do you know how many ninja have wasted there lives trying to learn how to fly? Only a few people have come close, but none have ever truly mastered it. It just isn't worth it to try and do the impossible."

Naruto shrugged his words off. "I'll be the one to develop a true flight jutsu, just like I'll be the one to become the next Hokage. Believe it!" Naruto grinned with his last sentence. Jiraiya felt some of his doubts fade, but he still didn't want to give the kid false hope.

"Alright Gaki. If you're that persistant go ahead and train your brains out. Just remember not to let yourself go while you are trying to do the un-doable."

"Thanks pervy sage! Oh, hey, can you tell me if you've heard of the Hakai No Ai before?"

Jiraiya stood in place as he finished staring and responded with slight fear in his voice. "Naruto, come closer for a moment please."

As Naruto got closer Jiraiya could see it ever more clearly. The dark grey eye with an Omega symbol in the center. The eye fated to bring the world to a permanent end.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

There you have it! It's been well over two years but I updated for all of you lovely people! I'm sorry it took so long, truly I am. But I can't even make a guess as to when the next chapter will be out because my life has no tether point right now. I'll do my best to make it as soon as possible, but for all I know that'll be another year away.

Tell me what you think in a review. What you like, what you hate, how you think the fight scen played out, how much you hate me. Anything. Also, due to lack of communication, I am now the sole author of this story, and almost everything from here on out will be just me.

Until next time,

The King- has left- the building. Uh thank you very much.


	6. Insight

Better, right?

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"Legend has it that there was a being that roamed the Earth before the time of man. With no clue where he came from, how he got there, and no idea where to go, he merely traveled. He had zero tolerance to the dangers the world possessed, which resulted in his near death experience. He had fallen into a small stream and the barely cold water gave him hypothermia. The stream gave way to a waterfall, and in the middle of the lake below was a pool of lava surrounded by stone."

Naruto leaned forward from his bedroll. After explaining to Jiraiya what he knew, which wasn't much at all, Jiraiya shared what he knew, resulting in story-time.

"The waterfall launched the lone man out of the water and whizzing through the air. His flight ended when he crashed into the stone that separated the lava and fire, but his hand flopped into the lava, melting it off almost instantly, while setting his cloth robe on fire."

"Jiraiya, this guy sounds like he has worse luck than Granny. If he was around to pass on rumors then how did he make it out of this?"

"I was getting there. Hitting the stone knocked him unconscious, and a storm blew in before he awoke. When he finally came to, lightning was striking all around him, and as he went to stand up and run for cover, he was struck. It's said that being struck by all five of the major chakra affinities at once is what set it off, but none of this can truly be proven." Jiraiya paused to take a drink of water. Story-time took a lot of talking, which is why he always prefered writing to talking. It also allowed him to avoid awkward situation, seeing as how he never had to see the person reading his book.

"Ero-sennin, set what off? You can't just pause at the good parts!" Naruto was flailing around, and Sasuke rolled over in his sleeping bag.

"Be quiet, I'm trying to sleep." Sasuke mumbled from the other side of the fire. In reality he was listening to the story, but he'd be damned if he let either of them know that.

"I was getting to it Gaki, be patient. And they are called cliff-hangers for a reason. Now, anyway, when the man opened his eyes he was surprised he could still move. He was even more surprised that he wasn't dead or even in pain. He looked down at his still usable hand and saw it emanating a blue energy, and the next bolt of lightning shocked him into putting his hands up, when he launched lighting himself. He was surprised, and keeled over in shock. Upon looking at his reflection in the water, he saw his eyes were now dark grey with four odd designs he had never seen before, and odd shapes as well. He looked around at his surroundings, and figured he would experiment on what he could do. And that's where the legend ends."

Naruto just sat there staring at Jiraiya with his new eyes. "You mean to tell me I sat here and listened to your story about a guy who has shitty luck, and then can't provide anything to do with the actual topic of the story itself? What was I supposed to gain out of that?" Naruto was getting more and more upset.

"Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me: there was one more part. During his experimentation he found he could control fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, and lava. All of the things he encountered readily. And whenever a new obstacle struck him down, he managed to get back up and conquer it. It's like he could take everything that hurt him and use it against the world. That's the true end of the story." Jiraiya stood up. "Well, we should probably get ready to head out. Sleeping Beauty, nap time's over. Get up and pack up."

Naruto set a clone to cleaning up his stuff, he didn't feel like doing it himself. He thought about the last part, about using everything you've been hit with against the world. It sounded to him like it was the Sharingan, but better. The drawback of having to get hit with it did kind of suck, but if taking one for the team meant you could send out hundreds for the team afterwards, that would be a pretty good trade off. "Jiraiya, what happened to the guy? Did his power end up destroying him? Did he ever find out how he got there?"

"What part of end of the story don't you understand? If he knew more he would have tagged in on. Now shut up and stop being lazy. Pick up your own shit." Sasuke had his stuff in a nice neat pile, ready to go when the sannin told him to head out. From his position he still couldn't see Naruto's eyes, and he had been asleep when Naruto explained what was going on.

"Whatever teme. I'm working smarter, not harder. Anyway Jiraiya, do you know if I can get my real eyes back? New things are fun and all, but I want to be able to look at things without seeing overlapping bubbles of energy." Naruto was rolling his sleeping bag up, facing away from Sasuke has he glanced over.

"I can't think of anything. Other than maybe focusing chakra to your eyes? Or cutting chakra flow there, that could be it also." Jiraiya had packed up long ago, and was exploring the cave, noticing how all of the doors he saw before were now gone without a trace.

Sasuke started towards Naruto, straight over the fireplace that had since been extinguished but not cleaned. "Why can't you see normally? What's going on?"

Naruto moved on to placing his things in a neat-for-him pile. "Oh, you didn't hear? I woke up with these." Naruto stood up straight, looked at his teammate, and pointed to his eyes. "Apparently they're called the Hakai No Ai, but they don't seem all that destructive to me."

Sasuke gaped at the blond idiot. Not even an Uchiha took activating their Sharingan lightly, and they knew it was coming. Naruto developed a new one, and he is as calm as could be! "_I'm not sure if he is just superbly dumb, or if it is his coping mechanism. Either way, the sheer depth of it astounds me._" "Naruto, you're acting as if things like this happen every day, they don't."

"Believe me, I'm surprised. But jumping around and blinding myself with fast moving colors isn't what I'm trying to do. Hey! How do you turn off your Sharingan? Maybe they function the same way." Naruto brightened when he thought up his 'brilliant' idea.

Sasuke started walking away, hiding his disbelief. "I think about not wanting them active anymore and they turn off." Naruto thought for a few minutes, going cross-eyed at one point, but his eyes finally receded to normal blue.

"Yes! Thank you Sasuke! I can see everything normally again!" Jiraiya chose this time to walk back over.

"Gaki, calm down and bring me that scroll you said you found." Jiraiya held out his hand expecting Naruto to comply quickly.

Naruto stopped and scratched his head. "I actually don't know which one I put it in. Can it wait until we get back to Konoha?"

Both Sasuke and Jiraiya dead-panned at Naruto. "You have one bag, I'm sure it is an easy find. Besides, I thought you wanted answers?" Jiraiya started rubbing his temples in frustration.

"I got a lot of scrolls from the rooms, and they were all sealed again and again. I don't know what one ended up with the weird scroll in it."

Jiraiya did his best to calm himself before speaking again. "Gaki Gaki Gaki. Whatever, we'll go through them when we get home. Let's go, I've had enough of dark caves, and I want to get out of here." There was a click, and the floor under Jiraiya shot upwards, and he was close enough to his stuff that it went out with him.

Sasuke said the same thing after grabbing his things, resulting in him going up along with Jiraiya.

Naruto stared at them for a moment, before finally realizing how great this room had been. All of their needs had been met without a question, and now it is just freely letting them go. "It doesn't make sense, but I wish I could take you with me. It would be awesome having a room like this in my life. But I guess that wouldn't make sense. Would you please be so kind as to take me to my friends?"

Naruto saw the room glow brighter than anything he had seen to this point. He closed his eyes and held his head in pain, while feeling himself being lifted in the air. He assumed the room was taking him out, but he had no idea why it grew so brightly taking him out but not the others. When he finally felt the movement stop he realized his skin was warm from sunlight. He opened his eyes and found himself on an island a quick sprint across water from the coast. There was a single building on the island, and he was still standing on the floor of the cave-room, which had remained black. Slowly he saw that the color was receding from the edges, almost as if it were folding, and the end result was the most complex seal pattern he had ever seen the size of his palm on the ground by his feet. Another protrusion from the ground brought it to arm level, and the seal floated off the pedestal and attached to the back of Naruto's hand, fading away almost completely, but remaining visible if you looked closely.

"Gaki, are you alright? What was that?" Jiraiya ran over to Naruto and pulled him off of the metallic ground.

"It's a seal array. It's what allowed the room to do the things we needed. I can actually see things like that written in this seal, it's fascinating. There is so much I don't understand, but considering you just started me on reading seals this is wonderful." Naruto was amazed as he stared at the back of his hand.

"We need to get back. We have so much to report, and this little excursion is going to cost us a lot of traveling time." Jiraiya had so many thoughts running through his mind, so one very important thought eluded his attention.

"Dobe, Jiraiya. What are we going to do with the ninka we tied up back there. With how weak he was I don't think he will actually be able to get out himself." Sasuke looked off into the village, seeing nothing but broken building and a destroyed home. It reminded him of the Uchiha compound in a way, but he knew these people made it out alive, unlike his clan. He looked away and took a moment to calm himself. Getting worked up over something like this was no way to beat Orochimaru's curse mark, and he'd be damned if he let Orochimaru have his body. Glancing at the building on the island he saw light emitting from inside. "This is probably where he was holding up. It looks refurbished."

Naruto finally looked up from his hand. "We should go get that guy before we leave. I'll go grab him." Naruto sprinted towards the village and returned moments later with their captive who was only now regaining consciousness

"You better let me go now, or I'll break free and kill you all!" The ninja was squirming, clearly trying to threaten them, to absolutely no avail.

"Anyone of us individually could kill you ourselves, there is no way you could possibly beat all three of us together." Sasuke was about to put a genjutsu on the loser just to shut him up.

"Fine. What do you guys want from me? I moved to this village to get away from people trying threatening me. And could you please put me down? This is highly uncomfortable." Naruto shrugged and put the guy down next to his dwelling.

"I'll let you go, but on a few conditions." Naruto started talking. He had some ideas how to make this work.

"Yeah, sure. But what could you possibly want from me?" The ninja just sat there. He wasn't getting out without being released.

"First, tell us your name."

"Saikon. I lost my family name in a duel with Father. Another part of the reason I'm out here." Saikon looked down in sadness.

Jiraiya and Sasuke stood back, waiting for Naruto to get to the point. "I'm sorry about that Saikon, it must be tough having your father not respect you." Naruto cut one of the three seals on their captive. This one held his arms and legs bound together. "The second thing I ask is that you inform us if you find anything of interest in this place."

"I've been here for three years and I haven't found anything, but yeah, sure. I don't care." Naruto leaned in to cut off the one holding Saikon's feet together.

"Finally, be more welcoming to guest of Whirlpool. I'm sure the old inhabitants wouldn't want to see the sole soul here being rude and attack happy."

"Yeah, alright. I can do that I guess. But I'm still going to defend myself if nece-" Saikon looked at Naruto's face for the first time. "Those eyes! I saw a picture of them somewhere in the village! I looked at it and it shrunk into the wall, and I haven't been able to find it since, but it looked almost exactly like those! They had more stuff in them though" Naruto cut the last seal, freeing Saikon's hands.

"Thank you. Remember to let us know if you find anything. Oh, and can you draw?" Naruto got a slight giddy smile on his face.

"No, sorry."

And Naruto's smile melted away. "Oh well. Ok, have a nice life! Stay in touch! Pervy Sage, Teme, lets go." Naruto hopped on to the water and started sprinting towards Konoha.

"Gaki! You don't even know if you're going the right way!" Naruto stopped and turned around.

"I think I do Jiraiya. When I look that way I see an outline of Konoha. It's really weird, and faint, but I see it." Naruto took off once more, leaving a larger gap between him and his companions. They bid farewell to their now previous hostage and leapt after Naruto.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Cool. Two updates in less than seven days! New record for me! Probably sucky as well, but I try my best. The next chapter should hopefully be more interesting. Don't worry, some of the loose ends I noticed will be getting tied up. If you notice anything you'd like an explanation to just leave a review or pm me and I'll get back to you ASAP. Until next time, Ja Ne!

The King- has left- the building.


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